To Kill Gods or Die Trying

Chapter 27-Diablo the Pyromancer

October 20th, 2301

"Doesn't Diablo mean 'devil' in Spanish?" I ask. "Like, none of us speak Spanish," Rachel replies.

"Diable means devil in French. Spanish and French are Romance languages and those two words are cognates so I guess so," Mack says.

"You speak French?" I ask.

"And English obviously. And my main tongue of German. I don't speak French well at all, though," Mack replies.

"I mean, English is the official international language," Essej says.

Diablo the Pyromancer Demigod.

"Alright, showtime," Sess snickers with a gleam. We continue forward, approaching a long bridge over a river of lava flowing rapidly west. In the distance to the east, a tall, slender volcano is spewing and gurgling lava down its front. At the end of the bridge, far away, we watch the pyromancer demon practicing his fire attacks and martial art techniques.

"That looks fun to fight," one of the Druids says with heavy sarcasm.

I scoff. "Havanna, why don't you hit us with fire resistance," I suggest.

"On it... Ignis resistentia. Multiplicentur per triginta," Havanna says. She raises her thorned staff and thirty magic circles spread around and bind with every one of us. Our bodies glow with a yellow glaze. Sess pulls out his snow eagle and mounts it. The other Whisperers mount a war-owl and ice bat.

"We'll save you guys some of the damage," Sess says. I nod. The Beast Whisperers take off with the speed of their animals to engage the demigod.

"Alright, guys. We've been working hard these past 10 days. One more boss, travel back to the shore, sail, and it's home sweet home," I encourage. Everyone grins at the thought of taking a few days off to sleep before having fun at the Capital, then we do training, and then it all starts over again.

"Let's do this!" I yell. We take off together sprinting full speed. The bridge actually ends in a circular cul de sac-like platform, big enough for a fight. The Beast Whisperers are already dishing out a good amount of damage. We surge on, until we are a few yards away from the demigod.

Energized and determined, our stamina bars have barely depleted. It's time to kick this guy's ass.

"More visitors," Diablo says with a sneer. He wears thin maroon armor plates with gold trimmings. His evil eyes glow bright orange and half of his pale head is shaved to reveal a tattooed magic circle. His hands burn with hot fire. The fighting stops, the Whisperers fall back to recover, and we slowly surround him on all sides. He looks at us from the corner of his eyes. Nothing happens... Slowly, he places his hands together. What the hell is he up to?

One of the Assassins dashes forward from behind and Diablo strikes. He jumps up and spins in the air with his legs extended into a full split. Fire shoots out of the soles of his boots as his legs move like helicopter blades. I raise my shield, having anticipated the attack. The fire is stronger than the Fire Dragon's. Instead of being fanned out and less concentrated, this fire is hotter and more condensed.

The Druids raise a wall of ice to protect themselves, which catches the Pyromancer's eye.

"Cryomancers, have we?" he snarls. "Druids," Mack snaps back.

"Even better a bounty!" Diablo high-jumps with a front flip into the air, and fires down an extremely concentrated, thin jet of fire. Mack catches the beam in his hands and absorbs it.